Mary of Nazareth
Mary (Blessed Virgin Mary or Our Lady, Greek: Μαρία, Spanish: Virgen María, French: Notre-Dame, Italian: Madonna) is the name of the mother of the Son of God. In the Gospels accounts, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea to a young virgin, by the Holy Spirit. The Gospel of Matthew describes the virgin birth of Jesus as fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. The Gospel of Luke relates that the angel Gabriel visited Mary in order to announce to her that she had been chosen to bear the Son of God.Luke 1:26–38__TOC__ Mary prophesied in the Old Testament The Old Testament refers to Virgin Mary both in its prophecies and its types or figures. Genesis 3:15 The Catechism of the Catholic Church cites and explains the Protovangelium in the article of the Creed dedicated to Creation , where it speaks of the fall of man: Isaiah 7:1-17 Chapters 1 – 39 of the Book of Isaiah are made up of a number of smaller units from a variety of times. Isaiah 7:1 – 8:15 apparently dates from the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah (late 8th century), during the lifetime of Isaiah, and its purpose was to persuade Hezekiah not to join an alliance in rebellion against Assyria. A century later, in the time of Josiah, the prophecy was revised to present Ahaz as the faithless king who rejected God's promise of protection for Jerusalem and the house of David, with the result that God brought Assyria to devastate the land until a new and faithful king (presumably Josiah) would arise to restore peace. Isaiah promises Ahaz that God will destroy his enemies and tells him to ask God for a sign that this is a true prophecy. A sign, in this context, means a special event which confirms the prophet's words. Ahaz's sign will be the birth of a son to an almah. The word almah has no exact equivalent in English: it probably meant a young girl or woman who had not yet borne a child. So the sign is that: # A young girl will conceive (or possibly has conceived and is already pregnant, the Hebrew is ambiguous) and give birth to a son; # She is to name the boy Immanuel, meaning God is with us (the grammar of the Hebrew is clear that the naming will be done by the baby's mother); and # God will destroy Ahaz's enemies before the child is able to tell right from wrong. The almah has been identified as either the mother of Hezekiah or the daughter of Isaiah. There are, however, problems with both candidates: Hezekiah was born well before the war with Ephraim and Syria began, and although almah does not specifically mean virgin, it probably does mean a girl who has not yet had a child, and Isaiah already has a son. In any case the significance of the Immanuel sign is not the identity of the child and its mother but the meaning of the name ("God is with us"), A Prophecy that was fulfilled in Jesus Genealogy The New Testament tells little of Mary's early history. The Gospel of Matthew does give a genealogy for Jesus by his father's paternal line though only identifying Mary as the wife of Joseph. John 19:25 states that Mary had a sister; semantically it is unclear if this sister is the same as Mary of Clopas, or if she is left unnamed. Jerome identifies Mary of Clopas as the sister of Mary, mother of Jesus. According to the early second-century historian Hegesippus, Mary of Clopas was likely Mary's sister-in-law, understanding Clopas (Cleophas) to have been Joseph's brother. According to the writer of Luke, Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, wife of the priest Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah, who was herself part of the lineage of Aaron and so of the tribe of Levi. (Luke 1 ) Some of those who consider that the relationship with Elizabeth was on the maternal side, consider that Mary, like Joseph, to whom she was betrothed, was of the royal House of David and so of the Tribe of Judah, and that the genealogy of Jesus presented in Luke 3 from Nathan, third son of David and Bathsheba, is in fact the genealogy of Mary, while the genealogy from Solomon given in Matthew 1 is that of Joseph. (Aaron's wife Elisheba was of the tribe of Judah, so all their descendants are from both Levi and Judah.) Her parents in the Protoevangelium of James a apocryphal Gospel which dates from the Middle of the second century. According to this document the parents of Mary are Joachim and Anne, The tradition as to the parents of Mary, found in the Gospel of James, is reproduced by St. John Damascene hom. I. de nativ. B.V., 2, P.G., XCVI, 664, St. Gregory of Nyssa P.G., XLVII, 1137 , St. Germanus of Constantinople de praesent., 2, P.G., XCVIII, 313 , pseudo-Epiphanius de laud. Deipar., P.G., XLIII, 488 , pseudo-Hilarius P.L., XCVI, 278 , and St. Fulbert of Chartres in Nativit. Deipar., P.L., CLI, 324 . Some of these writers add that the birth of Mary was obtained by the fervent prayers of Joachim and Anne in their advanced age. As Joachim belonged to the royal family of David, so Anne is supposed to have been a descendant of the priestly family of Aaron; thus Jesus sprang from both a royal and priestly family cf. Aug., Consens. Evang., l. II, c. 2. The hometown of Mary's parents According to , Mary lived in Nazareth, a city in Galilee, at the time of the Annunciation. A certain tradition maintains that she was conceived and born in the same house in which the Word became flesh Schuster and Holzammer, Handbuch zur biblischen Geschichte, Freiburg, 1910, II, 87, note 6 . Another tradition based on the Gospel of James regards Sephoris as the earliest home of Joachim and Anne, though they are said to have lived later on in Jerusalem, in a house called by St. Sophronius of Jerusalem Anacreont., XX, 81-94, P.G., LXXXVII, 3822 Probatica. Probatica, a name probably derived from the sanctuary's nearness to the pond called Probatica or Bethsaida in John 5:2. It was here that Mary was born. About a century later, about A.D. 750, St. John Damascene hom. I in Nativ. B.M.V., 6, II, P.G., CCXVI, 670, 678 repeats the statement that Mary was born in the Probatica. It is said that, as early as in the fifth century the empress Eudoxia built a church over the place where Mary was born, and where her parents lived in their old age. The present Church of St. Anne stands at a distance of only about 100 Feet from the pool Probatica. In 1889, 18 March, was discovered the crypt which encloses the supposed burying-place of St. Anne. Probably this place was originally a garden in which both Joachim and Anne were laid to rest. At their time it was still outside of the city walls, about 400 feet north of the Temple. Another crypt near St. Anne's tomb is the supposed birthplace of the Virgin Mary; hence it is that in early times the church was called St. Mary of the Nativity cf. Guérin, Jérusalem, Paris, 1889, pp. 284, 351-357, 430; Socin-Benzinger, Palästina und Syrien, Leipzig, 1891, p. 80; Revue biblique, 1893, pp. 245 sqq.; 1904, pp. 228 sqq.; Gariador, Les Bénédictins, I, Abbaye de Ste-Anne, V, 1908, 49 sq. . In the Cedron Valley, near the road leading to the Church of the Assumption, is a little sanctuary containing two altars which are said to stand over the burying-places of Sts. Joachim and Anne; but these graves belong to the time of the Crusades cf. de Vogue, Les églises de la Terre-Sainte, Paris, 1850, p. 310 . In Sephoris too the Crusaders replaced by a large church an ancient sanctuary which stood over the legendary house of Saints Joachim and Anne. After 1788 part of this church was restored by the Franciscan Fathers. Biography Immaculate Conception The birth of Mary As to the place of the birth of the Virgin Mary, there are three different traditions to be considered. First, the event has been placed in Bethlehem. This opinion rests on the authority of the following witnesses: it is expressed in a writing entitled "De nativ. S. Mariae" inserted after the works of St. Jerome; it is more or less vaguely supposed by the Pilgrim of Piacenza, erroneously called Antoninus Martyr, who wrote about A.D. 580 ; finally the Popes Paul II (1471), Julius II (1507), Leo X (1519), Paul III (1535), Pius IV (1565), Sixtus V (1586), and Innocent XII (1698) in their Bulls concerning the Holy House of Loreto say that the Virgin Mary was born, educated, and greeted by the angel in the Holy House. But these pontiffs hardly wish to decide an historical question; they merely express the opinion of their respective times. A second tradition placed the birt in Sephoris, about three miles north of Bethlehem, the Roman Diocaesarea, and the residence of Herod Antipas till late in the life of Jesus. The antiquity of this opinion may be inferred from the fact that under Constantine a church was erected in Sephoris to commemorate the residence of Joachim and Anne in that place cf. Lievin de Hamme, Guide de la Terre-Sainte, Jerusalem, 1887, III, 183 . St. Epiphanius speaks of this sanctuary. But this merely shows that the Virgin Mary may have lived in Sephoris for a time with her parents, without forcing us to believe that she had been born there. The third tradition, that Mary was born in Jerusalem, is the most probable one. it have been seen that it rests upon the testimony of St. Sophronius, St. John Damascene, and upon the evidence of the recent finds in the Probatica. The Feast of Mary's Nativity was not celebrated in Rome till toward the end of the seventh century; but two sermons found among the writings of St. Andrew of Crete (d. 680) suppose the existence of this feast, and lead one to suspect that it was introduced at an earlier date into some other churches. In 799 the 10th canon of the Synod of Salzburg prescribes four feasts in honour of the Mother of God: the Purification, 2 February; the Annunciation, 25 March; the Assumption, 15 August; the Nativity, 8 September. The Presentation of Mary According to and , all the Hebrew first-born male children had to be presented in the Temple. Such a law would lead pious Jewish parents to observe the same religious rite with regard to other favourite children. This inclines one to believe that Joachim and Anne presented in the Temple their child, which they had obtained by their long, fervent prayers. tells that she answered the angel announcing the birth of Jesus: "how shall this be done, because I know not man". These words can hardly be understood, unless its assume that Mary had made a vow of virginity; for, when she spoke them, she was betrothed to St. Joseph. The most opportune occasion for such a vow was her presentation in the Temple. As some of the Church Fathers admit that the faculties of St. John the Baptist were prematurely developed by a special intervention of the Divine Power of God,and so a similar grace can be admit for the child of Joachim and Anne. But what has been said does not exceed the certainty of antecedently probable pious conjectures. The consideration that Jesus could not have refused His Mother any favours which depended merely on His munificence does not exceed the value of an a priori argument. Certainty in this question must depend on external testimony and the teaching of the Church. Protoevangelium of James, states that in thanksgiving for the birth of their daughter, Mary, Joachim and Anne decide to consecrate her to God, and bring her, at the age of three years, to the temple in Jerusalem. Mary’s presentation in the temple draws parallels to that of the Prophet Samuel, whose mother Hannah, like Anne was also thought to be barren, and who offered her child as a gift to God at Shiloh. Mary remained in the Temple until her twelfth year, at which point she was assigned to Joseph as guardian. According to Coptic tradition, her father Joachim died when Mary was six years old and her mother when Mary was eight. While the story is a legend with no foundation in history, the point is to show that even in her childhood Mary was completely dedicated to God. It is from this account that arose the feast of Mary's Presentation. Her betrothal to Joseph Annunciation of the Lord in the sixth month after the conception of St. John the Baptist by Elizabeth, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the Virgin Mary, at Nazareth, a small town in the mountains of Galilee. Mary was of the house of David, and was espoused (i.e. married) to Joseph, of the same royal family. She had, however, not yet entered the household of her spouse, but was still in her mother's house, working, perhaps, over her dowry. (Bardenhewer, Maria Verk., 69). And the angel having taken the figure and the form of man, came into the house and said to her: "Hail, full of grace (to whom is given grace, favoured one), the Lord is with thee." Mary having heard the greeting words did not speak; she was troubled in spirit, since she knew not the angel, nor the cause of his coming, nor the meaning of the salutation. And the angel continued and said: "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end." The Virgin understood that there was question of the coming Redeemer. But, why should she be elected from amongst women for the splendid dignity of being the mother of the Messiah, having vowed her virginity to God? (St. Augustine). Therefore, not doubting the Son of God like Zachary, but filled with fear and astonishment, she said: "How shall this be done, because I know not man?" The angel to remove Mary's anxiety and to assure her that her virginity would be spared, answered: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." In token of the truth of his word he made known to her the conception of St. John, the miraculous pregnancy of her relative now old and sterile: "And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth; she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: because no word shall be impossible with God." Mary may not yet have fully understood the meaning of the heavenly message and how the maternity might be reconciled with her vow of virginity, but clinging to the first words of the angel and trusting to the Omnipotence of God she said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word." The Visitation Gabriel also told her that her close relative Elizabeth, though old, was to also bear a child. Due to this, she traveled to Judea to visit Elizabeth. When she arrived, John, the child in Elizabeth's womb, jumped and Elizabeth realized that Mary was blessed because of her yet "invisible" child that she was carrying.Luke 1:39-45 Having heard Elizabeth's words, Mary worshiped God in song. After staying with Elizabeth for three months she returned home to Nazareth.Luke 1:46-56 The journey to Bethlehem When Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken in all the provinces of Rome, all inhabitants were required to register in their home districts. During this time Mary and her betrothed went down to Bethlehem to register for the census.Luke 2:1-5 As the enrolment had brought a multitude of strangers to Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph found no room in the caravansary and had to take lodging in a grotto which served as a shelter for animals. Mary gives birth the Virgin Mary, was betrothed to Joseph, but was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Joseph intended to divorce her quietly, but an angel told him in a dream that he should take Mary as his wife and name the child Jesus, because he would save his people from their sins. Joseph awoke and did all that the angel commanded. Chapter 1 of Matthew's Gospel recounts Jesus's birth and naming and the beginning of chapter 2 reveals that Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the time of Herod the Great. Magi from the east came to Herod and asked him where they would find the King of the Jews, because they had seen his star. Advised by the chief priests and teachers, Herod sent the Magi to Bethlehem, where they worshiped the child and gave him gifts. When they had departed, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him to take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, for Herod intended to kill him. The Holy Family remained in Egypt until Herod died, when Joseph took them to Nazareth in Galilee for fear of Herod's son who now ruled in Jerusalem. The Circumcision of Jesus "And after eight days were accomplished, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called Jesus" . The rite of circumcision was performed either in the synagogue or in the home of the Child; it is impossible to determine where Jesus's Circumcision took place. At any rate, His Mother must have been present at the ceremony. The finding of Jesus in the Temple When Jesus was twelve, Mary would discover his potential as a leader and teacher. She "lost" her son for a few days when he stayed behind in the temple after the yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem had endedLuke 2:42-50. The remainder of Jesus's youth After this, Jesus "went down with them, and came to Nazareth" where He began a life of work and poverty, eighteen years of which are summed up by the Evangelist in the few words, and he "was subject to them, and. . .advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men" . The interior life of Mary is briefly indicated by the inspired writer in the expression, "and his mother kept all these words in her heart" . A similar expression had been used in 2:19, "Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart". Thus Mary observed the daily life of her Divine Son, and grew in His knowledge and love by meditating on what she saw and heard. It has been pointed out by certain writers that the Evangelist here indicates the last source from which he derived the material contained in his first two chapters. The miracle in Cana The evangelists connect Mary's name with three different events in Jesus's public life: with the miracle in Cana, with His preaching, and with His passion. The first of these incidents is related in John 2:1-10. One naturally supposes that one of the contracting parties was related to Mary, and that Jesus had been invited on account of his mother's relationship. The couple must have been rather poor, since the wine was actually failing. Mary wishes to save her friends from the shame of not being able to provide properly for the guests, and has recourse to her Divine Son. She merely states their need, without adding any further petition. In addressing women, Jesus uniformly employs the word "woman" ( ; ; ; ; ; ), an expression used by classical writers as a respectful and honourable address. The above cited passages show that in the language of Jesus the address "woman" has a most respectful meaning. The clause "what is that to me and to thee" renders the Greek ti emoi kai soi, which in its turn corresponds to the Hebrew phrase mah li walakh. This latter occurs in ; ; ; ; ; ; . The New Testament shows equivalent expressions in ; ; ; ; . The meaning of the phrase varies according to the character of the speakers, ranging from a most pronounced opposition to a courteous compliance. Such a variable meaning makes it hard for the translator to find an equally variable equivalent. "What have I to do with thee", "this is neither your nor my business", "why art thou troublesome to me", "allow me to attend to this", are some of the renderings suggested. In general, the words seem to refer to well or ill-meant importunity which they endeavour to remove. The last part of Jesus's answer presents less difficulty to the interpreter: "my hour is not yet come", cannot refer to the precise moment at which the need of wine will require the miraculous intervention of Jesus; for in the language of St. John "my hour" or "the hour" denotes the time preordained for some important event ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ). Hence the meaning of Jesus's answer is: "Why are you troubling me by asking me for such an intervention? The divinely appointed time for such a manifestation has not yet come"; or, "why are you worrying? has not the time of manifesting my power come?" The former of these meanings implies that on account of the intercession of Mary Jesus anticipated the time set for the manifestation of His miraculous power 83; the second meaning is obtained by understanding the last part of Jesus's words as a question, as was done by St. Gregory of Nyssa , and by the Arabic version of Tatian's "Diatessaron" (Rome, 1888). Mary understood her Son's words in their proper sense; she merely warned the waiters, "Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye" ( ). There can be no question of explaining Jesus' answer in the sense of a refusal. Our Lady of the Pillar a Spanish tradition holds that, in the early days of Christianity, the Apostle James of Zebedee, was evangelizing in the Iberian Peninsula, but was disheartened because of the failure of his mission.Our Lady of the Pillar on The work of God website on various apparitions of Mary. on 2 January 40 AC while praying one night on the tobrt bank, the Virgin appeared with the Child Jesus standing on a pillar and asked Saint James and his eight disciples to build a church on the site, promising that “it will stand from that moment until the end of time in order that God may work miracles and wonders through my intercession for all those who place themselves under my patronage.” October 12: Our Lady of The Pillar St. Thomas More Priory the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, is the first church dedicated to Mary in history and it remains standing to this day, having survived invasions and wars – in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 three bombs were dropped on the church and none of them exploded. "Nuestra Senora del Pilar (Our Lady of the Pillar)". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved 30 May 2019. Assuption of Mary On 1 November 1950, in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus Pope Pius XII declared the Ancient Tradition of the Assumption of Mary as a dogma: }} In this dogmatic statement, the phrase "having completed the course of her earthly life", leaves open the question of whether the Virgin Mary died before her assumption or whether she was assumed before death; both possibilities are allowed. Mary's assumption is said to have been a divine gift to her as the 'Mother of God'. Ludwig Ott's view is that, as Mary completed her life as a shining example to the human race, the perspective of the gift of assumption is offered to the whole human race.Ludwig Ott's Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, pp250 ff Today, the belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary is universal in the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches and in the Latin Catholic West; according to Benedict XIV De Festis B.V.M., I, viii, 18 it is a probable opinion, which to deny were impious and blasphemous. Se Also *Mariology *Theotokos * References Category:House of David Category:Parents of Jesus Category:New Testament People Category:Saints Category:Female People Category:Female Saints Category:Biblical Saints